Hello Bookworms, if you didn’t already know, I am a Turkish Canadian. And a proud one at that. Both my parents were born in Turkey, and initially moved to Canada just to temporarily work, but BOOM then little miss Erin came into the picture. Now, I have always LOVED Turkish food. I do realize I may be a ~little~ biased in saying this, but Turkish food is the BEST FOOD. And nobody can convince me otherwise. The cuisine is SO vast and has something for everyone. This post is more of a “basics of Turkish Cuisine”, with recipes that are the most prevalent(ones I eat almost every week) and are DELICIOUS! It is ~very~ hard to control myself from making this post 10000000000000 words long, with 1000 recipes because there are SO MANY to choose from. But those reading, if interested(you should be!) can(and SHOULD!) easily make these at home.
I have made several posts in the past about my travel to Turkey, what to pack and most importantly…. THE FOOD!
What it’s actually like traveling to Turkey
Travel Diaries – What to Eat in Turkey
This post will have three simple recipes. I wanted this post to be about food that is a staple in any Turkish home, that’s eaten on a regular basis and is VERY easy to make.
Recipe # 1 : Spinach Pie
Ingredients:

- 1 pack phyllo pastry
- 2 lbs spinach
- 1-1.5 cup chopped onion
- 2 eggs
- 3/4 cup of oil
- 1 cup of milk
- 1 tbsp plain yogurt
- 1 tsp red pepper flakes (if you like spicy),
- Salt and black pepper
Instructions:

- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F
- Heat up 2 tbsp of oil in a large skillet. Add the chopped onions, saute until the onions are soft, almost caramelized.
- Add the spinach. Cook for 2 minutes and remove from the heat.
- While waiting for the spinach mix to cool down, mix the eggs, milk, yogurt and the remaining oil. (We will use this glaze for in between the sheets and the top layer.)
- Prepare the tray by adding a cookie sheet or some oil.
- The recipe will continue below!

- We will use 1/2 of the phyllo pack for the bottom of the pie and the remaining 1/2 for the top. Start by adding two sheets of phyllo pastry and brush with glaze. Do this for half of the phyllo sheets. Then add the spinach filling and distribute evenly.
- Add two more layers of phyllo pastry and brush with glaze. Repeat until no more phyllo sheets are left. Make sure you have some glaze left for the top layer.
- Feel free to add some black sesame seeds.
- Put it in the oven for 20-25 minutes, or until golden-brown.

Recipe # 2 : Turkish Bulgur Salad (A.K.A Kisir)
Ingredients:

- 2 cups of fine bulgur wheat
- 3 cups of boiling water
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 2 tomatoes diced(use if in season, if not tomato paste will suffice)
- 1/2 bunch parsley chopped
- 1/2 bunch green onions chopped
- 1/2 bunch mint chopped
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses(optional)
- Romaine Lettuce leaves to serve
Instructions:

- In a bowl, soak the bulgur and tomato past with the boiling water for about 20 minutes, mixing once or twice. (Bulgur should be soft and all the water absorbed by 20 minutes).
- Meanwhile, dice the tomatoes and chop the greens.
- Wait about 10-15 minutes for bulgur to cool down and add in all the ingredients. Mix well.
- Serve immediately with romaine lettuce leaves, or. coll in the fridge to serve cold.
- It will stay fresh for 2-3 days.

Recipe # 3 : Cranberry Oat Cookies(A.K.A Dessert time!)
Ingredients:

- 1 cup butter at room temperature
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 cups oats
- 3 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 pinch of salt
- 2 cups cranberries
- 1/4 cup crushed nuts(optional)
Instructions:

- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F
- Add in the butter and all the sugars. Mix well.
- Add the eggs and continue to mix.
- Add the rest of the ingredients and mix with your hands. (The batter may become dry, you may want to add in a little water)
- Using a spoon(or hands) place the preferred cookie size onto the baking tray.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes(depending on cookie size)
- Let cool for 5- 10 minutes and enjoy!

These are all the Turkish recipes for today’s post! I wanted this post to have the simplest ones that ANYONE could make! I could go on for days in my love for Turkish food, and I could make thousands of recipe posts!! Let me know if I should post recipes to more complicated dishes, or if you would like to see more desserts!
[…] Turkish Food Recipes: The Basics […]
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Sounds scrumptious! Can’t wait to give Turkish food a try. Thanks for sharing, Erin.
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Thank you so much!! Hope they turn out great!
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The food looks good! I’m Canadian, but my family and I love Greek food!
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Yea Greek food is pretty good!
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[…] @ Reading on a Star shared some Turkish recipes to make, and even looking through the pictures made me hungry (why would you do this to me, […]
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[…] @ Reading on a Star shared some Turkish recipes to make, and even looking through the pictures made me hungry (why would you do this to me, […]
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[…] Erin @ Reading on a Star […]
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These recipes look delicious! I will definitely have to get my boyfriend to cook one of these for me, since I’m a wreck in the kitchen.
xx, bree
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Hahaha thanks Bree🥰
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This looks like a delicious recipe! I love baking, so I might have to try some of those cookies!
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Thank you!!
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[…] @readingonastar […]
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skfhskdskjds these all look so good!!!! i can’t wait to try one out over the weekend!! ❤
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thanks ahaana!!
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These all look so yummy!! I adore dessert (dessert time is the *best* time!) so I will definitely be making those cranberry oat cookies.
Thank you so much for the awesome post! ❤
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I’m sure you’ll love it! Thanks for reading Lulu💙
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I didn’t know you were Turkish or Canadian so I guess I learned a lot about you today. Thank you for sharing about your heritage. ❤
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haha now you know! thanks elizabeth💙
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Wow! All of this looks so delicious and I might be making one of the dishes (by that I mean all of them because I have no self-control when it comes to food). It’s amazing how cultured you are and I just could never. I loved this post!
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I am the last person to talk about to on self-control…. because I have NONE😎. Lilly you are the sweetest, thank you so much for the comment!
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Very interesting post! I especially love the pure energy and pride you have in your culture. My partner and I might try to make the cookies!
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thanks jenny! this post was incredibly difficult but fun to make! I really hope you enjoy the recipes!!
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omg this post really made me crave turkish food now (T__T) i definitely want to try these out but if i burn my kitchen… at least way i tried
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haha I’m sure you’ll do great! I made sure all these recipes were especially simple yo make, so i hope you don’t struggle too much🤪
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These all look delicious! I’ll definitely be trying them 🙂
Emma xx
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I’m so happy to hear that☺️
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Wow. It looks marvelous
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thanks!!
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ooh these all look so delicious!!
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they really are!
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Yesss I love recipes!! I’ll definitely try some of these!!
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☺️☺️
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[…] Lia ✧ May ✧ Abby ✧ Cielo ✧ Melanie ✧ Alex ✧ Linda ✧ J ✧ Fleur ✧ Ali ✧ Erin […]
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*gasps* I love turkish foods!! they are so delicious and thank you so much for sharing these recipes! I have to try them out!
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Hahah thanks Linda🥰 Tell me how they turn out!
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These look awesome! I can’t wait to try the recipes one day 🙂
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I’m glad you liked it May!
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omgg these look so good!! you did a great job cooking…and making me hungry 🤨🙌 i’ve never eaten turkish food, but i desperately want to now. i think i’ll try making these, but i’m not very good at cooking so i’ll just make my sister make it for me lmao!
i think korean food is the best (because i’m korean), so i’m obviously biased too 🙈 great post!! ❤
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Thank you Katie!! My only goal in life is to spread the love for Turkish food🥰 Just like you I STRONGLY believe that this cuisine is the best. I hope you have fun Katie and please tell me how you like it!! I wanted this post to be all about easy recipes, so maybe the next one will be a little more advanced, or about desserts☺️☺️
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Thank you for sharing this! I love cooking food from all over the world, so I will definitely be trying these some time
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No problem! This post was so fun to make, and I hope it’s the first of a series of sorts. 🥰☺️
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Why did you include those pictures? 😱 I am so hungry right now, you can’t even imagine… I will definitely have to try these out! (Or get my brother to do it and bring me the results while I’m studying 😉)
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Omg hahah!! I really hope you do!! And tell me how they turn out🥰🥰
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